[Breast feeding: what role for the pediatrician]

[Practical advice for women who want to breast feed]

Breastfeeding is currently a rare practice in France. Pediatricians wanting to help those women who wish to breast feed should be able to provide them with proper information during the perinatal period, and to ensure that breast feeding begins under the best conditions, i.e., early initiation of breast feeding, then self-demand feeding, breast feeding without restrictions on duration and frequency, no supplementation of any kind, continuous rooming-in, and proper positioning of the baby. Most of the time this is sufficient to prevent complications such as engorgement, sore nipples, mastitis or poor weight gain of the baby. If difficulties appear, they have to be managed by means of simple advice and reassurance, without interrupting breast feeding.